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Juha Javanainen

Publications and source records attributed to Juha Javanainen.

8 recordsLinked to original sources

Simple mean-field theory for a zero-temperature fermionic gas at a Feshbach resonance.

We present a simple two-channel mean-field theory for a zero-temperature two-component Fermi gas in the neighborhood of a Feshbach resonance. Our results agree with recent experiments on the bare-molecule fraction as a function of magnetic field [Partridge, Phys. Rev. Lett. 95, 020404 (2005)]. Even in this strongly coupled gas of 6Li, the experimental results depend on the structure of the molecules formed in the Feshbach resonance and, therefore, are not universal.

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Low-acceleration instability of a Bose-Einstein condensate in an optical lattice.

We study a Bose-Einstein condensate in a one-dimensional accelerated optical lattice using the mean-field version of the Bose-Hubbard model. Reminiscent of recent experiments [M. Cristiani et al., Opt. Express 12, 4 (2004)], we find a new type of an instability in this system that occurs in the limit when the acceleration is small.

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Collective molecule formation in a degenerate Fermi gas via a Feshbach resonance.

We model collisionless collective conversion of a degenerate Fermi gas of atoms into bosonic molecules via a Feshbach resonance, treating the bosonic molecules as a classical field and seeding the pairing amplitudes with random phases. A dynamical instability of the Fermi sea against association with molecules drives the conversion. The model qualitatively reproduces several experimental observations [Regal et al., Nature (London), (2003)]. We predict that the initial temperature of the Fermi gas sets the limit for the efficiency of atom-molecule conversion.

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Optical detection of fractional particle number in an atomic Fermi-Dirac gas.

We study theoretically a Fermi-Dirac atomic gas in a one-dimensional optical lattice coupled to a coherent electromagnetic field with a topologically nontrivial soliton phase profile. We argue that the resulting fractional eigenvalues of the particle number operator can be detected via light scattering. This could be a truly quantum mechanical measurement of particle number fractionalization in a dilute atomic gas.

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Mean-field theory of Feshbach-resonant interactions in 85Rb condensates.

Recent Feshbach-resonance experiments with 85Rb Bose-Einstein condensates have led to a host of unexplained results: dramatic losses of condensate atoms for an across-resonance sweep of the magnetic field, a collapsing condensate with a burst of atoms emanating from the remnant condensate, increased losses for decreasing interaction times, and coherent oscillations between remnant and burst atoms. Using a simple yet realistic mean-field model, we find that rogue dissociation, molecular dissociation to noncondensate atom pairs, is strongly implicated as the physical mechanism responsible for these observations.

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Particle number fractionalization of an atomic Fermi-Dirac gas in an optical lattice.

We show that a dilute two-species gas of Fermi-Dirac alkali-metal atoms in a periodic optical lattice may exhibit fractionalization of the particle number when the two components are coupled via a coherent electromagnetic field with a topologically nontrivial phase profile. This results in fractional eigenvalues of the spin operator with vanishing fluctuations. The fractional part can be accurately controlled by modifying the effective detuning of the electromagnetic field.

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Rate limit for photoassociation of a Bose-Einstein condensate.

We simulate numerically the photodissociation of molecules into noncondensate atom pairs that accompanies photoassociation of an atomic Bose-Einstein condensate into a molecular condensate. Such rogue photodissociation sets a limit on the achievable rate of photoassociation. Given the atom density rho and mass m, the limit is approximately 6(planck)rho(2/3)/m.

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